Sunday, 16 July 2017

Athletics Update

It's
been a while since I've written a post about athletics so I thought I'd give a
little update on how it's all going!

Training

I'm
actually trying to ease back in to training after one month off and I attended
an open meet before I went back to training to see what kind of affect it would
have had on my body. I can say that it'll never be happening again, since I ran
half a second off my PB in the 100m, which is horrendous.

The first session back was a rainy one on Tuesday and it gave me a great excuse
to just leave it until Thursday but Chloe being the more motivating partner
just powered on and said “Better get your waterproofs on”. Everyone needs
themselves a Chloe (bread).

Current PBs and New Goals

In
my very first post of this blog I mentioned some of the goals that I had for
the outdoor season that I wanted to meet. Those being sub 13.9 for the 100m and
sub 29 for the 200m.

Actually happened to smash that goal 10 days later at an open and ran a 13.71.
It was quite odd to have a heavy training session the night before on the track
and to feel sore everywhere. Apparently it was a good tactic of my coach to be
more reactive from the blocks.

Similarly, my 200m goal was met a few days after the meet at the final LUCA
series, taking 0.29 seconds of my previous PB to run a 28.85. Obviously
this means that new goals have to be created because I constantly want to be
improving! Now, this is what I want to be able to achieve before the outdoor
season is over:

100m: 13.6

200m:
28.6

Technique

I'm
still very much trying to work on my knee lift but with my weak hip flexors,
I'm struggling to keep them up because before long, my legs start to burn. This
is probably why I feel a lot stronger running bends since the knee lift doesn't
have to be as high compared to running a straight! Honestly though, I believe
it puts me in a heavy disadvantage when running a 100m or the second half of a
200m and it’s quite frustrating. One step at a time!

Strength

Without
changing my frame, I need to still gain more strength and power to be able to
explode out of the blocks. I've been told that I have a good drive and reaction
time so that my starts are good, but without power, fellow athletes are quick
to pass by after the 60m mark. Definitely something to work on for this season!
Relating back to technique, these hip flexors need to get stronger! Relating
back to technique, these hip flexors need to get stronger!

Physique

I’ve never really had a problem with the
way I look but of course everyone has their personal flaws. A more general goal
would be to tone them abs! I understand that everyone experiences bloating
after eating but it just turns into a round one-pack for me.

T-Rex arms Harry

Stretching

Simple as it sounds, I don't do it enough. I've got to make it a thing to stretch after training as well as before training. It's just not worth the injury for a short period of stretching!

Opens

I
love the concept of an open meet. The fact that you have people from all ages,
abilities and genders running together, all with the same love for athletics.
After a while of competing in a few open meets, you begin to recognise regular
faces who enjoy competing as much as you do.

It's also a great opportunity to try out different tracks that I wouldn't
normally get to; although they are often out of the way and takes quite a while
to travel to, it's worth it in the end!

London Anniversary Games

The
London Anniversary Games were held at the Olympic stadium last Sunday and I
hadn't been in the stadium since the 2012 Paralympics!

A
new world record was set for the Mile walk event and it was my first time
seeing an event like this. How do they manage to WALK a mile in such an
incredible time when I struggle to run it?! Of course there was the anticipated
3000m race with Mo Farah which was a definite intense race to watch!

Let’s see how the rest of the outdoor
season occurs and if I meet my personal goals!

Love,

Amy

Recommended
song of the week is Headlights by Eminem ft. Nate Reuss. Just love the emotions and words of this piece.